LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Duke and North Carolina love to pop their jerseys and howl that they stage the greatest rivalry in college basketball. ESPN provides the lighting, microphones and prime-time programming.
I usually disagree, but this is one time I'd advise Kentucky and Louisville to let the Blue Devils and Tar Heels inhale all the attention – if ESPN is interested.
The NCAA needs to be interested. Doggedly interested. Nothing rivals the nonsense unfolding on Tobacco Road. They're providing headlines that would make Jerry Tarkanian blush – and put Cleveland State on five years of probation.
If you believe that academic fraud is the most unforgivable sin in college sports, then North Carolina is your winner.
The Tar Heels' pristine academic reputation has been stained by persistent reports of bogus classroom work arranged for multiple football and a few basketball players.
It is a scandal that wiped out the entire coaching staff of the North Carolina football team that will visit Papa John's Cardinal Stadium Saturday.
When you study the North Carolina roster Saturday and spot a player majoring in African and Afro-American studies, you're allowed to snicker because that is the academic area where UNC tucked students who no-showed in a scandal that affected at least 54 classes.
It created an embarrassment that angered faculty and many alums – but not the NCAA.
What is the NCAA going to do about it?
Apparently about as much as the guys enrolled in these classes – nothing. A first look by the NCAA resulted in zero sanctions, even though Carolina felt compelled to gut its football program.
But remember this is a rivalry unlike any other. Duke was not comfortable letting North Carolina dominate the headlines. The academic shenanigans moved to the B news block with the story that Lance Thomas, a starting forward on Mike Krzyzewski's 2010 NCAA championship team, has Kardashian tastes in jewelry.
In December 2009, several months before he helped the Blue Devils make their NCAA Tournament push, Thomas allegedly purchased around $100,000 of jewelry from Rafaello And Company, a high-end retailer in New York City that lists Drake, Jay-Z, Rihanna, Justin Bieber and Chris Bosh among its clients on its web site.
Go to www.rafaelloandcompany.com. Click on "Gents." Find page 13. Check out that $99,000 white diamond, white gold bracelet. You want two of those, don't you?
Why is this news leaking nearly three years later?
Because Rafaello has filed a lawsuit, alleging that Thomas made a $30,000 down payment, but failed to pay the remainder of his $67,800 tab.
That's not the first question that needs to be asked. This one is:
How come Mike Krzyzewski and the Duke coaching staff didn't notice one of their starting forwards was walking around with nearly $100,000 of fresh bling?
Please remember I said this was a rivalry. It took North Carolina a few days to respond, but the Tar Heels delivered big-time.
On Monday night, the Raleigh News and Observer reported that Matt Kupec, a former UNC quarterback, had been forced to resign his job as the school's chief fundraiser.
According to the newspaper, Kupec made multiple "business" trips with his girlfriend, Tami Hansbrough, who also worked as a fund-raiser for the school.
Yes, that Hansbrough. She is the divorced mother of Tyler Hansbrough, the former North Carolina all-American. The newspaper reported that Hansbrough started working as a fundraiser for the UNC dental school on Dec. 8, 2008, a month after the start of Tyler's senior season, a season that culminated with an NCAA championship.
DING, DING, DING, DING.
The story says that Kupec and Hansbrough scheduled several trips so they could watch her younger son, Ben, play for Notre Dame. How romantic!
Pillow talk isn't the real story here. The story says Kupec divorced his wife and is in a relationship with Hansbrough, who has been placed on administrative leave from a job that pays her $95,000.
Now, if the NCAA is interested, the story is who at North Carolina signed off on hiring Tami Hansbrough for a fund-raising gig that enabled her to travel around the country during her son's senior year to watch him play games at university expense? According to the newspaper story, an audit by the UNC dental school concluded that was happening.
What is the NCAA going to say about Tami Hansbrough? And Lance Thomas? And the rest of the best rivalry going in college sports?
We'll be waiting.
Copyright 2012 WDRB News. All Rights Reserved.
Duke and North Carolina are taking turns making headlines off the court.
